During business operations, you may find it necessary at times to record audio to your computer for use in anything from slideshow presentations to email attachments. Recording audio with a MacBook Pro is a simple process due to the included analog to digital converter in the system. With the converter, it’s possible to plug an analog microphone into the line-in port of your computer and then to use audio-recording software to record the audio input from the microphone directly to a hard drive.

Locate the line-in port on the side of the MacBook Pro next to the USB port. Plug the microphone jack into the preamplifier and then plug the preamplifier jack into the port. The preamplifier is needed to bring the microphone signal levels high enough to be detected clearly by the analog input of the MacBook Pro.

Click “System Preferences” under the Apple menu and select “Sound.” Select the “Input” tab for a list of connected devices and then click on “Line-in audio” as your sound input device. Move the slider under input volume to about the 80 percent of the indicator bar to get a good sampling of sound coming through the microphone during recordings without distortions. Close the preferences window.

Start the audio recording software. Apple's GarageBand is preinstalled on all new MacBook Pros and works well with external devices. Open the “Preferences” menu. Select “Built-in Audio” as your audio input choice. With some other recording programs, select “Line-in.”

Click the “Record” button in the audio-recording software to begin recording audio directly through the microphone. The built-in converter converts the analog signals from the microphone into digital signals for recording with the software. Press ”Record” a second time to stop recording. Modify the recorded audio as desired before saving it with the recording software to your hard drive using the “Save” option in the “File” menu.

About the Author

Larry Simmons is a freelance writer and expert in the fusion of computer technology and business. He has a B.S. in economics, an M.S. in information systems, an M.S. in communications technology, as well as significant work towards an M.B.A. in finance. He's published several hundred articles with Demand Studios.